A COMMUNITY has been left devastated after vandals threw paint over a children's play area after weeks of attacks.

Volunteers at the East Street Community Association, formed 12 months ago, have attracted funding for evening events aimed at improving the lives of youngsters in the Redlam area of Blackburn.

But committee members were horrified to discover their efforts had been thwarted by more vandalism on Tuesday, when they discovered the playground covered in white paint.

The play area has already had three of the four swings removed and is charred and surrounded by broken glass because of groups of young people who drink there and start fires.

Montrose Street resident Donna Penn, 28, had to tell her two-year-old daughter Rhiannon not to use the playground because of the damage.

She said: "It's terrible. Rhiannon would like to play there every day but a lot of the time I can't let her because it has been vandalised or there's broken glass around.

"The baby swings are totally gone, too."

Community association fund-raiser Pat Forsyth said: "We want to give all the kids a chance and we've put in a lot of effort over the past year.

"We have set up a disco, which starts this Friday, but when things like this happen you wonder if there's any point.

"Sometimes I feel like going out there and bashing them. I blame the parents really, they must know exactly what's going on and they should take some responsibility.

"It's just disheartening when we have done so much work.

"There must be some good in them, it just doesn't always seem that way.

"The police are very helpful but there's only so much they can do.

"We need to get some of the things fenced off."

PC Vicky Warrington said: "The police will take a hard stance against anybody who has been found to have done this. The community group is brilliant and really needs some support but doesn't seem to be getting that at the moment."

PC Warrington appealed for anybody with any information on the vandalism to contact Blackburn police on 51212.